Owners give big trees the chop

IMAGINE exam time without carpets of jacaranda flowers and Christmas without the blooming red canopies of poinciana trees.

The future is looking less colourful with fewer people growing these big trees that are famous for their seasonal shows.

Simon Van Roy, of Manawee Garden Centre in Buderim, said poincianas and jacarandas were among about a dozen large trees that had fallen out of favour in modern yards. Mr Van Roy said the comparatively small blocks in modern housing estates was partially to blame. "You just can't plant a poinciana in the front yard because you've got no front yard," he said.

Mr Van Roy said people were still buying and planting jacarandas and poincianas, but not growing them.

"To say that people are not planting trees for the long term is more accurate," he said. "The concept of planting a tree for the long term really doesn't happen.

"People are impatient. They plant things because they grow fast, and then they move, and the next buyer comes in and the tree roots are digging up the driveway and so he chops the tree down.

"Either way, the trees are losing."

The movement away from big trees in modern yards means many children would never experience the fun of building their own treehouse, he said.

Mr Van Roy said Buderim was fortunate to have many mature poinciana trees lining the streets.